Silo construction.



marta s'ra'rns PA o FFTC,

ACHARLES woLr, or sroKANE, WASHINGTON, AssIGNoR To EUREKA sILo COMPANY,

' oF BELLINGHAM, WAsHINGToN.

SILO CONSTRUCTION.

To all 'witam it may Gomera VBe it'known that I, CHARLES l/VOLF, a citizen of Vthe United States, residing at Spokane, in the county of Spokane and State of VVashington, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Silo .Constructions, of which the following is a specification.)

My invention relates to i'mprovements in silo constructionsiand has to do more particularly with the design of the wall supporting uprights which enter into the construction of silos of'polygonal' orsubstantially circular shape.

.Theprincipal object of the invention resides in the provision of a. novel andadvantageous form ofupright and splineway or slot for the AVertical spline which serves tol key the joined Sections of the .upright together, and of a splinev ofthe required shape in transverse section to fit the slot. i

The main point, of ldifference betweenthe upright keying means herein set forth and corresponding elements of previous constructions'known to be in use resides most particularly Vin the specific 4shape ofthe Aspline slot and spline. Heretofore it has been .the practice to cut a three sided slot or groove in` each of the engaging'facesof the ,upright sections, which forms'of slot or groove when thesections are in position, register .to pro-- vide an angular splineway which necessitates an -angularly Vshaped spline. When shrmkage or expansiontakes place such a spline frequentlysplits down the centerby.

reason of the shearing action which then occurs, so that the spline y.utterly fails of its, intended purpose of retaining the. silo structure rigid and-tight. VLeakage of air "through the splits and resultantopen seams cause rapid deterioration of the sil-age, especially-that portionf`which is immediately subjected to the air drafts.V

There is a further most important con-V sideration whichmust be dealt with by silo manufacturers. This has to do with the milling of the uprights. I provide an upright whose faces and splineway may be cut on the standard sticker or planen A' The z splineway most commonly used is formedby- Cutting a three sided groove in each of theV joined upright Sections which, When the Sections are fitted together provides a six sided or faced splinewayV angularly shaped in cross-section and requiring a correspondingly formed spline as 'heretofore outlined.

Spec'ficationvof Letters E'a'cent.v

Patented Sept. 18, 1917.

The only eXcuse for such a shaped splineway. and spline is due to the fact'that a speclal machine would be required for cutting the registering three sided grooves at such an angle to the engaging faces of the upright Sections as to provide a rectangular splineway adapted to receive a rectangular spline. Such a special machine with slanting knives and heads could possibly be constructed but it would be extremely costly and its use limited. l/Vhen employing a straight arbor only two sides of a three sided slot or groove could be milled properly at the desired angle, the third side being chamfered off and requiring a spline of unsatisfactory design. i

As regards cost of manufactureit should be here stated that the silo industry has grown to be a substantial one andthe keen` competition in the trade renders it imperative to minimize the cost of manufacture and marketing to the utmost. It is therefore the practice of silo manufacturers to mil] t-he various parts as near as possible to lthe market to avoid large freight charges. Hence it is important that standard equipped mills in the different market Centers throughout the country be utilized to furnish the parts. It would not be feasible for reasons of economy to equip such mills with special machines. a

The foregoing' explanation indicates briefly the advantages of the present construction over existing ones, but the same will be hereinafter more eXplicitly pointed out in connection' with the accompanying drawings, in whichi Figure 1 is a horizontal section taken through two of the silo uprights and showing the -silo Wall construction fragmentally, the spline which keys the upright Sections in place, and the manner of securing the sidings or wall boards to the uprights.

1 Fig. 2' is an enlarged sectional view through the upright.

Figif is an end view of an upright secdicate like parts in the several views, the.

numeral 1 designates. the upright Sections which are keyed' together' by a 'rectangular' spline 2. The Companion Sections of the uprights are of wedge design in transverse section as shown, the engaging fiat faces 3 being cut to taper at an .angle to'ytheir opposite faces and formed with'V-Shaped grooves adapted to register to' provide a splineway of rectangular or diamond Shape, the grooves being inidicated' by the numeral 481 The enter board supportin'g` faces 5' of thesections are provided with outer' wall board Supporting grooves 6 and inner wall board su'pportin-gf grooves 7 cut at right anglesv to their respective face. rJheouter' expos'ed faces S of the sections are chaniferedl off in the planing process: to present a neat, fiush VSurface with respectl to the' ou-ter wall boards 9 of the silo. The inner eXposed faces of the Sections arel preferably beveled off as indicated at 10.

Inthe section form'ing process wherein'a standard planer is Auti'lizied, and' referri'ng '3 for the pufrpos'e of description to Fig. 3 of the drawings, the taperedface 3, the' VV- have provision; vfor such tilti'ng manufacture' 'shaped" spline-way groove 4, and' the outer eXposed face' 8 of the section is cut by the topl knife or l'nives of theV machine, while' the grooves G'and 7 and the inner'exposedf beveled face 10 are cut by the bottom knife or knives of the machine. Thusl the splineway grooves or slots may be cut with a knife' mounte'd upon a pl'aner. head parallel to the machine. The old form of three- Sided groove is n'ecessarily made by tilting the head and as very few'stand'ard machines is ltherefore limited to specially equipped milils. 'With' the present splineway groove, by running the upright member through the machine with vthe facev 5 upon' the planed bed'the grooves '6 `and' 7 will be cutl Square with respect to the face. will serve to form the opposite face 3 and to cut'the V-Shaped splinew'ay groove in one operation. a

do not claim as my invention the mere provision of a l'e'ctangulfar spline nnitingi twof join'ed bodies off indefinite design but,-`

on the' contrary', itV ifs to be understoodv that my ln'ventionl residesfm the combination of a substantifally trapezoidial Vor w'e'dge-shaped upright c'ompcsed of joined `taperedSections and a splinewav of practica-l Shape forined of registering V-shaped grooves in the eincopies of this patent may' be obtained for A beveledv kni'fe" i,24o,284 i gaging faces of the upright Sections, which grooves are so related to the angle ofthe 'eng'aging faces' as to render the Sections capable' of being milled on machines of standard types.

It is, of course, to be further unclerstood that. thepplrimary aim of the invention is the provision of a spline possessing greater strength than those heretofore used in silo or like structures, irrespective of the prac- "1`. A walfilsupporting upright' for silos''V composed vof longitu'dinal companion sec'- tions of similar design adapted-,tobe keye'd together by' a longitudinal Spline', each of said Sections being substantially vwedge shap'ed tran-sverse' vSection -and' having? its outer board Supporting face provided with longitudi-n-al board supporting grooves and its opposite or section engaging face provided 'with' a vloifiigitudina'l V-sh'apedV groove, the V-Sha'pedl lgrooves ofthe joi-ned Sections being adapted to register to provide a longltudi'nal Spli-neWay, and av spl'ine ada'pted to i-t in said Splineway.

wall-supportin'g niprig-htv for Silfosof polyg'on'al construction, composedfi of longitudinal Companion` sections of similar de'- sign adlapte'd Vto be keyedv together by a longitudinal spline'each: of said Sections leeing'formed? with a straight'ou-ter board 'sup-1- porting face'and an opp'osite' or section engaging face tapet-ed lat an ang-le to the straight face; the' out'er lboard supporting face being provided With long-itudinal' board supporting grooves cut r'ectangularA withV respect'to Vtitle-face,- and its opposite;v

section engagi-nlg face provided with a lon-f gitud'inal V-shapedfgroove, the4 V-shaped w groove's of the ]ointed Sections being adapted to register to provide a longiltudV at sphnew'ay when the. Seetlons are assembled,

and a Spline adap'tod to fi-t'in said spl'i-ne-- Way? j In testimony w'hereof affix my signature..

CHARLES' wo'LF. 

